An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 67

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Montana > An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 67

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Mr. Vineyard had been married January 17, 1861, to Miss Thursa A. Finley, a native of Missouri and a daughter of William Fiuley, who was born in Tennessee; and when he decided to remain in Montana, she came here to join him, bringing with her their little son Walter. This son is still living and is their only child. In June, 1865, Mr. Vineyard, with two other men, went to Fort Ben-

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

enmity between the cattle men and sheep men. " Montana is being ruined," says the eattle king.

" Why, what is the matter?"

"Sheepéd!"

Instead of telling me that the glorious Gram - pian hills on which Norval's sire feeds his fleecy flocks, are being dennded of native verdure by these innumerable woolly folds, the great cattle king and the king of laeonies simply says, "Sheepéd."

Two tremendous engines groan with their work here-as when we crossed the Oregon Sierras-and here also is a tunnel; not a notably long one, but enough to tell yon that these lofty pastore-lands are not quite so smooth and level as they look.

ton with teams to join their families. About that time an Indian had been killed by some white men, and his body had floated down the river and lodged on a har near the fort. Mr. Vineyard helped to pull him out of the water. Excitement ran high, the Indians being greatly exasper- ated over the murder of one of their number. Their fami- lies not having arrived, Mr. Vineyard and his friends and some freighters, nineteen in all, proceeded down the river to the mouth of the Marias, where they met with an ad- venture that will never be forgotten by any of the party. The Burris party were down in that vicinity getting out logs with which to build a warehouse, when they were at- tacked by the Blackfoot Indians and all killed-eleven in number. Mr. Vineyard and his company heard the firing and went to their relief, but arrived too late to be of any service, the red men having gone and the whites all being horribly butchered. All they could do was to bury the bodies, which they did. That night they camped at the mouth of the Marias. Fearing an attack from the Indians, they prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. They, however, were not molested; but that night some Indians came to their camp, and, although professing to be friendly, caused the white men great uneasiness. Soon after this Mrs. Vineyard and the rest of the party arrived, and they made their journey back to Helena in safety.

For a number of years Mr. Vineyard continued mining, operating in the following camps: Grizzly Gulch, Tucker Gulch and Big Indian, and had a claim of his own in the last named camp. He was also one of the discoverers of Mitchell Gulch, where he mined one year, meeting with fair success: but built a ditch there in which he sank all he had made. After this he again mined at Big Indian, with success, remaining there until the fall of 1870, when he again went to Ilelena. In 1871 we find him in the Race Track diggings, and later at Warm Spring, and the

Down, down, down, goe- the stage! You twist and turn and cork-serew around moun- tains that have been half washed away by the hydraulics of former gold-hunters. Hundreds of old cabins, covered with earth, dust, and ashes on their heads as they stoop under the weight of years, dot the roadsides and moun- tain tops. All the way, up and down, to right and to left, you see shafts and tunnels, with tons and hundreds of tons of quartz-white quartz and yellow quartz -at their mouths. The miner is not nearly done with Montana yet.

In an ineredibly short time we cross the Missouri river. He is striking out direct for Canada, with all the yellow dust of both his banks.

following year he turned his attention to farming near where Anaconda is now located, and had the misfortune to have his crop destroyed by crickets. Hle was not dis- couraged, however, and his next venture was to purchase a squatter's claim of Mr. Huskill. Again he broke ground and planted a crop, and again his crop was destroyed in a like manner. At this juncture he was obliged to leave his wife and child on the land he had purchased and go and work in the mines for their support. Later, he home. steaded 160 acres of land east of and adjoining the town site of Anaconda. Here he was successful, raising excel lent crops of potatoes and oats, and selling his product for good prices, continuing here until 1874. At that time he and a partner built another ditch, which, however, proved a failure. They then removed to Phillipsburg, where he mined and cut wood, and where they remained three years, at the end of that time moving back to the ranch. This was in 1877, after the Nez Perces war. He con tinued farming until 1842, his efforts being attended with success. In 1983 he sold his farm to the Anae mda Town Company for $3,000, and the works of the Anaconda Smelter are now built upon a portion of it, the property. of course, having greatly increased in value. After sell ing his farm Mr. Vineyard went to Butte fity and leased mines for three years. He then returned to Anaconda and purchased property, and he and his family have since resided here, where they are well known and highly re- spected, being ranked with the leading pioneers of the place.

Mr. Vineyard and his wife are members of the Chris tian Church, He is a Master Mason and a charter mom her of Acacia Lodge, No. 33, of Anaconda. Politically, he is a Democrat. Twice he was elected to serve as touty Commissioner of Jefferson county, and he has served one term in the same office in Deer Lodge county.

336

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

" I should like to know how the country looks between here and Canada; a wilderness, I reckon, of wild animals and impenetrable woods."

The cattle king unhooked his left leg from the corner of a seat before us and set it down.

" I'll give you a pointer," old man," he be- gan, almost savagely. "This country is settled np from here to Canada, and for hundreds of miles further on. and it is settled np on the other side of this road from here to Salt Lake and from Salt Lake on down to Mexico. Yes, sir! You can get on a horse and ride from here to Mexico and put up at a house every night: same way to the north, sir. Will you go with meout to

MICHAEL J. CONNELL, Butte, Montana .- Success is the watchword of the man of affairs, and when that is achieved, it is evidence that it is not all of life to live. The rapid development of the frontier and mining settle- ments in a most forbidden and unsightly location, far re- mote from established centers of travel and civilization, into a great city, is one of the most remarkable evolutions which awaken one's interest in the agencies that have contributed to so wonderful a result, and especially in the personality of those who have witnessed the founda- tion-laying of a commercial metropolis. The men who have made Butte the commercial center of a large terri- tory are all possessed of that peculiar character and pluck which the world admires. These men possess hearts in which nature has kindled its living flame, and before whose irresistible force obstacles fade.

Michael J. Connell, whose appearance indicates marked ability and unquestioned force, a man of strong charac- ter, clear, active mind, has, from a modest beginning, made his way to the front in the business life of Montana, by broad, honorable business methods and an unconquer- able determination to succeed. Ile was born in Ireland, in September, 1854, at Knock-alohert, a lovely spot in that picturesque section embraced in the Barony of Duhallow. Adjoining Knock-alohert stands the Green- Hall school, in which his father and grandfather had al- ways taken such a lively interest, and in which he received his early education. The boy was fortunate in having excellent parents of culture and high standing in the community, his father, John Connell, being the leader of thought and advancement in that section of country and whose calm, sound advice has been as a guiding star eluring the agitation and strife of recent years.

Early in life, Mr. Connell evinced a restless nature and a desire to travel, and so, at the age of sixteen, he came to New York and soon after secured employment in the dry-goods house of C. F. Hovey & Company, Boston,

my ranch? Only a few milesout; carriage waiting for me at the next stage station. Come: will send you back in the morning, if you like."

And I went. The country I found to be much the same as that we had crossed; the same majestic, grassy hills, only not so badly " sheepéd." The same herds of cattle; scat- tering pines, pleasant brooks; birds innumer- able, wild berries, wild flowers; the wild roses were in full bloom and the banks of some streams were red; the air redolent of wild roses.

The great pass through which the first ex- plorers made their way to the head waters of the Columbia was found to be a very sultry and

where he remained for five years, during which time he acquired a thorough knowledge of the business methods employed by that sterling old house.

Again growing restless and believing the opportunities for ambition were better in the Western cities than the East, he came to Montana, arriving at Deer Lodge in July, 1875, where he had secured a position with E. L. Bonner & Company. When he first came to Deer Lodge, he engaged a room at the McBurney Hotel, thinking the charges were somewhat similar to equal accommodations in the East. To his astonishment he fonnd that he was charged $4 per day for room only, and that his living ex- penses were about thirty per cent more than his earn- ings. After that he accommodated himself with sleeping quarters in the store. His first year with the Deer Lodge firm proved his business ability to such an extent that he was given charge of the business with one-third interest in the profits. Soon after, Butte City began to demand the attention of the mining world, and lay bare its great ledges of silver and copper, convincing him that it would be a more desirable point for business than the easy-going town of Deer Lodge. A branch was soon started under the Deer Lodge firm name, which under Mr. Connell's management in a few years far exceeded the business of the main store. Mr. Connell is a firm be- liever in the corporate system of conducting business, and the Bonner Mercantile Company, which absorbed the above concern, was about the first business incorporation in Montana, which continued until 1891, at which time he purchased his partner's interest, and the M. J. Con- nell Company was organized. Better facilities being needed, electric lights, elevators, steam heat, modern precaution against fre, were added with other improve- ments, which make the M. J. Connell block the finest and best equipped business building west of Chicago. Too much credit cannot be given the M. J. Connell Com- pany for the enterprise displayed in the conception and

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

dusty road in summer and passable for pack- trains and teams during the entire winter, as a rule. In truth, Montana proved to be a land quite as temperate, taking her from top to bot- tom, as the most favored State in the North, far more temperate than most of them; and it is a fact that more people perished from the snow in the city of New York in the year when Sen- ator Roscoe Conkling lost his life there than ever yet perished in the snows of Montana, all told.

In the three years of Montana's existence a man was seen sitting under a shade-tree on a

erection of this magnificent business house in this West- ern metropolis. Business is conducted as in the large establishments of the East, skilled buyers being in charge of each department, and such has been the success of the business that at present 120 persons are employed and every express moving in Montana brings orders and car- ries goods for the M. J. Connell Company.

Nor does Mr. Connell's talents and business enterprise stop with the dry-goods business, to which he devoted his early life. His strong character pushed on and dur- ing the midst of the recent panic, when financial ship- wreck and ruin seemed in the very air, and when every man you met appeared discouraged and ready to sue- cumb to the approaching universal commercial disaster, he stood by his friends with material aid and gave con- fidence to the community by erecting a large lumber- manufacturing plant in the heart of the city, and locating beside it the yards and business of the Miners' Lumber Company, of which he is owner. He is also president and a heavy stock holder in the Kenyon-Connell Commer- cial Company, which does the largest hardware business in the State; and, like most of Montana's prominent citi- zens interested in her growth and development, he has become largely and profitably engaged in mining enter- prises; and he liberally aids with his money and influence all public enterprises intended to benefit the State. He has always taken a deep interest in religious and charita- ble works and has given his full aid to every institution in the city, knowing no creed or bounds in his charity. Many young people far distant from Montana, as well as here, are being encouraged and aided by him in obtain- ing the educational training which he considers the tirst necessity for any body ambitious to make a successful career.

Mr. Connell, although still a very young man, is head and front of the largest enterprises in the State, all thor- oughly organized and equipped, and, as he puts it, " 1 am ready for any new enterprise that promises good re turns, as 1 have plenty of idle time which should be occupied."

bank of mid-summer snow with his baby romp- ing about in the melon patch, from which the wife had brought a Inscions reminder of Georgia. The brown-faced farmer, who had worn the gray, ent the melon, as he sat on some grass which he had tossed on the hard-snow bank, and shared it with wife and baby.

At last the real and enduring prosperity of Montana was beginning.

A year later there were to be seen fruit trees laden with the most delicious fruit, standing not two hundred feet below a bank of snow that would, perhaps, remain there for years, and

In personal appearance, Mr. Connell is tall, clean-cut and quite dark. He makes a decidedly favorable im- pression, which, coupled with an irresistible cordiality, makes strangers feel at ease in his company. He is public-spirited and liberal to a degree, and is much ad- mired by all who know him for his sterling qualities. IFe is constantly in the ascendancy, seeing from the standpoint of his own indomitable courage and hopeful nature, the possibilities of next year from this, next month from the present month, and to-morrow from to- day. He trusts his own instinct fully and has the cour age of his convictions to a remarkable degree. His am- bition is to stand high in the commercial world, and by noldly pursuing a legitimate business he has attained the highest mark for the strictest integrity, and is recognized as one of the brightest, most enterprising and sagacious men in the Northwest. Ilis business principles are of the soundest, and during his twenty years in Montana he has never overlooked his profound regard for the great elements of right and wrong.

A prominent feature of Mr. Connell's character is his faculty for making himself popular with his employees. Though a man of few words, his just treatment of those whom he employs, and frequent proof of his interest in them, wins him their respect and best efforts. Some of his employees, who have been in his service many years, say that they have never known him to exhibit an ill- tempered spirit, no matter what may have been the prov ocation.

His life has been closely identified with Montana, of which he is very proud, and his personal history is a vital part of that of the State, connecting the present with the past.

He is in politics a Democrat, and has always taken a deep interest in the affairs of his party, but he is too much engaged with his large business to be induced fur- ther into publie position by accepting any office that his party may honor him with.

In 1890, Mr. Connell married a Boston lady, Mary Agnes Keane, and although they have since spent much

338

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

may have been there, some of it, for centuries. In fact, the fruit trees were greatly indebted to this bank, not only for protection from frost and storm, but also for nourishment.

As noted before, fine stock, fine farming im- plements and all else that adds to the enduring prosperity of a great State, had been brought to Montana right along, notwithstanding the desperate character of the savages. There seems to be a sort of tonic in peril for the men of Montana, and they take it as men of older lands take to leisure and luxury.

The wheat crop of Montana in 1868, so far as was reported to the auditor, reached 850,000 bushels, barley, 540,000; oats, 650,000; pota-

toes, 770,000. There was also reported 43,216 head of stock, valned at $1,582,418. At that time there were also in the State two tanneries, one foundry, seven planing-mills, seventeen saw-mills, fifteen distilleries anl breweries, and four furniture factories, besides plow and wagon, boot and shoe shops, and all sorts of leather- consuming factories to use hides, which were not profitable to import before the era of railroads.

I here append a table covering three years of agricultural and pastoral progress in Montana, compiled by S. P. Bassett and Joseph Magee, for the Montana Publishing Company. It is the oldest table I have been able to procure. It is not official, but entirely reliable.

TABLE Showing the Number of Acres Cultivoted, Value of Improvements, Value of Live Stock, Total Voluotion of Property, the Amount of Property Tor Assessed and Collected, ond Total Tomes Collected for 1866, 1867 and 1868, together with Other Statistics for Isis, from Official Sources.

1866.

1867.

NAMES OF

AcresLand

Cultivated.

$43,220 $108, 946 $1,732,905 $6,931 62 $ 230.62

$8,417.09

43,136

$102,248 $333,818

$2,081,192|

$8,324.76 $6,915.24

$ 21,145.27

Lewis & Clark 11,412

38,333

1,320.386

5,305.54 1,306.37

7,368.90

18,507

224,674

1,856,554

7,427.84

5,488.21

19,740.86

Deer Lodge ..

1,760

20,150

122,810

455,89]|

1,823.56

3 38

4,231.99

17,240

43,560

165,542|

619,276

2,477.10

2,000.00

6,989.98

Jefferson

24,616

190,627

782.51

384.43

902.50

20,397

41,700

118,420;

210,961

842.18

224.22

1,099.07

Gallalin

186,019

434,363| 1,737.45

148.07

630.75

35,000

90,000

199,959

420,48]

1,681.92,

1,396.53

1,629.00

Missoula.

2,087

86,010

296,901 |1,187.60

745.00

2,087

86,010

300,000

1,200.00

278.17

1,884 35

Beaver Head.

250,000|

1,000.00

181.29

9,500

9,000

89.836 32,105

306,187

1,224.74

1,145.43

1,270.00

Totala

167,757

212,329 717,575 5,137,074 20,548.28 2,255.10, 23,956.92 166,340'

314,579|1,164,354

6,308,125;

25,232 43 19,126 38

56,336 63

1868.

NAMES OF

Acres Land

Cultivated.

Value of

Improve-

No. Head

Live Stock

Value of

Live Stock

No. Wagns

and Car-

Value of

Carriages.

Value of Town Lots

Capital in

Manufac-

Capital in

Merchan-

Money and

Total Val-

Property .

Per cent.

Total Tax-

ed.

Madison.

52,997

$82,161

8.40]

$283.996

650

$42,419

$247,236

$108,000 $ 364,327

$ 596,867

$2,159,877

$ 8,464

$ 5,770

68.289 $ 11,505

Lewis & Clark

22,052

237,185

6.397

228,980

511

32,685

596,287

81,665 1,042,892 12, 425:

249,239

2,635,972

10,786

7,078

65.629

17,895

Deer Lodge

30,425

38,845

5,543

244,081

3.86

22,710

172,150

219,183

208,453

1,028,631

4.619

3,788

82.009

9,630

,Jefferson

17,600

40,367

4,068

136,970

190

8,156

19,395

5,850

22,677

10,565

257,284

1,249

471

37.702

2,008

Gallatin.

43,042

100,505

6,172

223,687

378

16,298

20,556

20,777

39,203

34,076

407,216

1,628

1.282

78 746

2.024

Meagher

12,500|

11,386

1,890

79,756

135

6,720

21,165

52,251

47,895

357,405

1,685

1.121

67.327

3,551

Beaver Ilead.

23,000

29,124

4,002

165,665

205

14,110

49,253'

18,540|

57,930

69,354

453,608

1,814

791

43.605

1,990

Chouteau. .

1,462

46,821

156

6,240

2,000

210,000

19,664

438,887

1,600

0.000

1,851

Totals

[254,169 620,623 43,216;1,582,418| 2,801| 159,570 1,126,042|

249,357 2,008,463] 1,261,643|

8,177,019|

31,577

21,726 | 64.740

52,430

of their time in traveling in this country and Enrope they have one of the most delightful homes in the city, to which they always fondly turn and where they are loved and welcomed.

SAMUEL II. BOSWORTH, proprietor of the American IIo- tel at Forsyth, Montana, was born in the State of Maine, in 1833, a son of Daniel and May (Huckins) Bosworth; his parents were pioneer settlers in the eastern portion of that State. llis great-grandfather was a soldier in the

war of 1812, and his father was a farmer and ship-bnilder.

Soon after attaining his growth to manhood, Mr. Bos- worth of this sketch emigrated to the great West, where he has had a wonderful experience, in the Rocky monn- tain region, during the settlement of the various Terri- tories and the subjugation of the many tribes of Indians. In 1879 he settled in Wyoming, at the summit of the Rocky mountains (Sherman), where he conducted a hotel for three years, after which he engaged in livery business

1,752

1,425

81.335

1,881

Missoula

52,553

81,050

5,281

172,462

190

10,532

ollect-

Acres Land;

Cultivated.

Value of

Improve-

Value of

Live Stock

Total Val-

uation of

Property.

Assessed Collecte

Total Tax-

es Collect- ed.

COUNTIES.

Cui

Value of

Improve-

Value of .

Live Stock

Total Val-

| Property.

Ass'sed |Colle'd

Total Tax-

es Colle

ed .

Madison

52,493

1,200.00

824.69

1,241.56

Chouteau

200,000

800.00

500

1,000

turing.

dizing.

Credits.

nation of

Property Tax

COUNTIES.

Assessed Collectd

Collected.

es Collect-

Meagher.

250,000 1,000.00

1,300.00 330.09

300.000

213,474

853.89

1,836.54

Wagons &

riages.

nation of

Property Tax

ments.

26,730

438,139

339

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE INDIAN WARS OF MONTANA-THE TREACHERY OF INDIANS TOWARD THEIR FRIENDS -- MEANNESS AND IMBECILITY OF CONGRESS IN DEALING WITH MONTANA-GRANT'S WISDOM - 1868 TO 1872.

MUST now turn, and very reluctantly, to the Indian wars of Montana; they were terrible, persistant, almost continuons, as said before, from the date of the discoveries of gold; and yet they could hardly be called wars, for on the one side there was nothing of the rules or ammunitions of war, simply butcheries. It is a safe assertion that more white men fell be- fore the Indians here; more good, true blood drenched the mountains and plains of Montana, than all the other States or Territories since the birth of the Republic. The marvel is that the country did not become emptied of the Saxon, and, indeed, it probably would have been had it

in Denver, Colorado, until the winter of 1882-83, when he came to Forsyth and entered upon his present busi- ness. In 1890 he was manager of the Grand Hotel at Billings, and has since been the proprietor of the Ameri- can Hotel. He is widely and favorably known as a ge- nial, first-class landlord. In 1855, in Maine, he married Miss Mattie Bailey, a daughter of Thomas Bailey, who was a prominent lumberman of that State. By this mar- riage there have been one son and a daughter.

George Bosworth, the son, was born in 1856, in the State of Maine, where he grew to manhood, receiving a common-school education. At the age of twenty-two years he entered upon a railroad business, on the Union Pacific Railroad between Cheyenne and Laramie. Work- ing his way up, he first became conductor in 1880, on the South Park Railroad, running between Denver and Lead- ville. He has been connected with the Union Pacific Railroad ever since 1883, as conductor between Glendive and Billings.

He is a fine specimen of manhood and a genial gentle man. ITis sister, Katie, is the wife of W. S. Becker, as- sistant superintendent of the North Dakota branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Mr. Bosworth is a member of Ashlar Lodge, No. 29, A. F. & A. M., at Billings, and also of Chapter No. 6, R. A. M. Besides, he also belongs

not been for the continual coming of like daring men in quest of lands and fortune.

It is conceded by all authorities and insisted on by many that the Flathead Indians were the best or "least bad" of all the Montana or neigh- boring Indians from first to last; yet the young braves of that tribe, as well as those of other tribes, all born to battle, and tanght in the trade of war from generations before, the tribe could not be restrained when other tribes went on the war-path. At sneh times the reservation was strangely empty of Indians. They had gone out hunting; most of them, by permission of the agent, who meant well enough, but knew no to the order of Railway Conductors. He owns stock in Castle silver mines, in Meagher county, also in Cook City mines in Park county. In his political sympathies be is a Democrat.

DAVID COHEN, SR., figures prominently as one of the respected citizens and early and successful business men of Anaconda, and is ranked with the Montana pioneers of 1864.

Mr. Cohen was born in Exin, Prussia, February 16, 1839. Ile received his early education in his native coun try, and when sixteen years of age emigrated to America, landing in New York city and there seenring a clerkship at $15 per month. He remained in New York two years. Then he went to Chicago and clerked in a general mer chandise store in that city. In 1861 we find him in Vicks- burg. From there he went to New Orleans and thence to Philadelphia, and from the latter place started for Pike's Peak, stopping for a short time in Kansas. Be- fore reaching his destinatiou, however, he met a party returning from that place who brought a bad report of the country, and this news caused him to return to Leav enworth, Kansas. A little later, becoming convinced of the great opportunities offered for trade in Montana, he, in partnership with a Mr. Phillips, fitted out a train of merchandise and miners' supplies and started across the

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 67

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216